Acquisition:
The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection (GRHC) became beneficiary
of this historically significant donation (documenting ethnic Germans
of Southern Crimea) upon the bequest of the estate of Ernest E.
Zeiszler from Hazen, Mercer County, North Dakota.

Significance:
Documenting ethnic German extended families of southern Crimea with
Wuerttemberg, Germany origins: Swabian heritage. Friederich Zeiszler/Zeissler
(born 1776) and his wife Maria (born 1787), with two sons, Georg
(born 1806) and Frederich (born 1080), [hired hand, Franz Kettinger]
emigrated from province of Wuerttemberg in year 1809, with the destinaton
of Kronental [Kronenthal], Crimea, South Russia, [Cousin Katherina
Zeissler was of thirty-seven colonists to Rosenthal, Crimea.] The
difficult ninety-day trek in 1809 was hazardous for approximately
eleven hundred trekkers (while Napolean had military conflict against
Austria on the upper Danube region). The overland route of 1809
through Saxony, Silesia, Polish Galicia, and Bessarabia caused only
healthy travelers to reach their destination of Kronenthal [Kronental],
Crimea.

The Zeiszler family lived in Kronenthal [Kronental] from 1809 to
1886 as farmers and the Kaiser family as blacksmiths (wrought iron).
Son Heindrich Zeiszler (born 1823) married Maria Kaiser. Grandson
Christian Zeiszler (born 1853) married Rosina Guenther from Friedental.
Great grandson Michael Zeiszler (born 1880 in Neu Borlak), immigrating
in 1886 to Freeman, Hutchinson County, Dakota Territory.

In 1887, Christian Zeiszler and family with a caravan of thirty
wagons (with future grand step-father John Suess, Sr.) trekked from
Scotland, Dakota Territory, via Mandan and Hebron to north of Stanton
in Mercer County, northwestern North Dakota. Michael Zeiszler homesteaded
near Mannhaven and later established a mercantile business in 1899
at Expansion, North Dakota, supported by forty eight families with
origins in Kronenthal [Kronental], Kasmer, and Neusatz, southern
Crimea region.

Michael Zeiszler married Helena Bohrer, in 1898. Later as a widower,
he married Helena Sailer.

Materials in this collection include family histories; family group sheets; pedigree charts; birth, death, marriage, confirmation and citizenship/naturalization certificates; obituaries; news clippings, census information; a few maps, ships’ passenger lists and correspondence. Virtually all images and photos are photocopies. Books cover town and county histories and other family genealogy publications. Publications found are several FEEFHS newsletters and Hazen Alumni directories. One binder holds North Dakota WPA Historical Data Project stories (1937-1938), the survey forms and family group sheets. Zeiszler kept a binder with his LDS microfilm research and larger one with passenger list transcriptions. The collection also has duplicate, support or non-genealogy materials, floppy discs and a record of his book sales and expenses.

The following information has been entered verbatim,
as received, from material of Ernest E. Zeiszler. Given the discrepancies
that can contribute to error in interpreting genealogical records
and other documents, no one can guarantee their complete accuracy.
The Ernest E. Zeiszler collection is offered as a source for those
seeking genealogical and family research information. Researchers
must use judgment and do their own verification.

1. Access is limited only to Germans from Russia Heritage
Collection staff members.

2. Collection is housed in a controlled and restricted
area.

3. Browsing or researching of original collection
at the NDSU Libraries is not permitted.

4. Requests for information are available as entire
files only, as shown in The Ernest E. Zeiszler Collection search
engine or printed complete file listing.

5. Copies of any materials from the collection, must
be requested with letter only including pre-payment.

Johannes Wegerle Sr., (born in 1856
in Kronenthal [Kronental], Crimea; died in 1921), and wife
Katherina Zeiszler, (born in 1858 and died in 1930.) They
immigrated to Kronthal [Krontal], Mercer County in 1891, via
Hutchinson County, South Dakota. Photo circa 1891.

Gertrude Zeiszler Koehler, born in
1847 in Kronenthal [Kronental], Crimea, to
parents Friederich "Zeissler" and Christina
Burghart, married Daniel Koehler, born in 1844 in Kronenthal
[Kronental], Crimea, to his father Johann
Koehler.

S_Vol.6_page49:

Daniel Zeiszler, (born in Kronenthal
[Kronental], Crimea), and Magdalena Koehler, (born
in 1877 in Neusatz or Kronenthal [Kronental] , Crimea), with
seven of ten children. Refer to page 165.

S_Vol.10_page60:

Peter Sailer, born in1860 in Bestreck,
Crimea, to parents Stephen Sailer(1815-1893) and Lenora Hafner,
(later at Kambar, Lesy, and Sochta-er villages in Crimea),
died 1946 at Hazen, Mercer County, Peter married in 1884 in
Kronenthal [Kronental], Crimea, to wife Margaretha Morast,
born 1865 in Meschen, Crimea of affluent parents Gottlieb
Morast and Katherine Wiedrich, died in 1955 in Hazen, Mercer
County:

Immigrating circa 1906 to Krem, Mercer
County, The Peter Sailer family protrait is circa 1912. Refer
to page 186. They moved to Hazen in 1924.

S_Vol.44_page41:

Circa 1892, toddler portrait of Peter
Sailer, born in 1860 in Bestreck, Crimea, of parents Stephen
Sailer(1815-1893) and Lenora Hafner. Peter Sailer became a
young orphan circa 1864, and struggles of homeless poverty.